Snap seal



R. E. RAU

SNAP SEAL Jan. 14, 1941.

Filed Nov. 29, 1959 INVE NTOR 51% 1?. [Fall Patented Jan. 14, 1941UNITED STATES SNAP SEAL Ralph E. Ran, Amityville, N. Y., assignor toEdwin B. Stimpson Company, Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of New YorkApplication November 29, 1939, Serial No. 306,641

1 \Claim.

The present invention relates to seals adapted to lock the two memberstogether in such manner that the members are incapable of separationwithout destructive effort.

The invention is adapted more especially for use in connection withlooking two portions of a flexible member together, for example, a papertag which may be attached to garments that are sold on approval or areotherwise identified in such manner that the identification tag cannotbe removed without the removal being easily detected. The seal of thepresent invention may also be useful in any use to which such seals areordinarily adaptable:

Fig. 1 is a perpective view illustrating the inner seal member before itis attached to a suitable carrier.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the outer seal member before it isattached to a suitable carrier.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view through the inner member and the outer membertelescoped in locked relation and attached to a suitable carrier, forexample, portions of a paper strip.

Fig. 4 illustrates the seal in locked relation as being carried by astrip of paper which may comprise a suitable designating tag.

Fig. 5 is a side view of the seal members mounted on the paper tagillustrated in Fig. 4.

The seal comprising the present invention is formed of two telescopingmembers A and B which preferably are mounted on a strip of materialwhich may comprise a suitable paper tag. The seal members A and B arepermanently anchored on the carrier member C in such manner that thecarrier member may be looped to bring the sealing members A and B intojuxtaposition whereby the members may be telescoped by pressure betweenthe thumb and the finger and when the members are telescoped, they areinterlocked so securely as to be incapable of separation withoutdestructive effort which immediately becomes apparent and shows that thelock seal has been broken. One of the principal features of the presentinvention is its extreme simplicity and economy of manufacture. Themembers A and B are preferably formed of sheet brass, or other suitablemetal, by machine tools from suitable dies. Each member A and B ispreferably an integral unit adapted to be attached to the carrier whichmay comprise the paper strip C by means of mechanism commonly utilized.to expand and clinch hollow rivets so that both the manufacture and theapplication of the device is one being capable of being carried out bymachine tools to provide a final construction which is a unit capable ofrough usage without the parts separating or the seal members droppingaway from the carrier member.

The member A comprises a hollow cup having a top I and a continuouscylindrical side wall 2. 5 The side wall is continued and bent back uponitself to form serrated spring fingers 4, the outer ends 5 of whichspring outwardly a short distance from the side wall 2. These springfingers 4 extend around the continuous cylindrical side wall 10 2 fordistances of less than 15 in order that the resilience of said fingersmay not be unduly restricted by the curvature of the construction. Thetop I carries a hollow stem 6 which preferably is integral with theother portions of the 15 member A so that preferably the entire memberis formed of one single piece of metal, however, a hollow rivet may besubstituted for the stem 6 where desired. The outer member B likewisecomprises a hollow cup having a bottom wall "I 20 which carries acylindrical side wall 8 that has its upper edge inturned to form alocking edge 9 adapted to engage the spring fingers 4 on the member Awhen the members A and B are telescoped and thus lock the two members Aand B 25 together. Preferably, and more especially for ease ofmanufacture, the inturned edge 9 of the member B likewise is a serratededge, it being less difiicult to inturn a serrated edge than to inturn asolid rim. The bottom wall 1 of the member 30 B is also provided withhollow stem II] which, like the hollow stem 6, may operate as a hollowrivet when the members are attached to the carrier C.

The member A may be attached to the carrier C by expanding the end ofthe hollow stem 6 into 35 an outwardly extending flange II that tightlyclamps and anchors the carrier C between the flange l l and the top I ofthe member A. In like manner, the member B may be attached to thecarrier C by expanding the hollow stem 10 into 40 a fiange [2 whichtightly clamps the carrier C between the back wall I of the member B andthe fiange l2.

Preferably, the device is sold as an article of manufacture with themembers A and B riveted 5 to the carrier C, so that the user merelyneeds to fold over the carrier C in order to bring the members A and Binto telescoped relation and when pressure is applied to complete thetelescoping operation, the member A is securely 5o looked within themember B and the relation of the spring fingers 4 on the member A totheserrated edge 9 on the member B is such that the carrier C contacts withthe edge of the member B making it impossible to insert a tool 55between the side wall 2 of the member A and the side wall of the memberB so as to separate the parts without breaking or distorting thestructures. The device, therefore, comprises a securely locked sealwhich cannot be opened without destructive effort.

What I claim is:

In a snap seal construction, the combination of an elongated fiatflexible carrier member, an inner cup shaped member with a substantiallyfiat top portion having spring fingers forminga part of the edge of thecup with the spring fingers extending along the continuous cylindricalside wall of the inner cup toward the flat top portion, an outer cupshaped member with a substantially flat bottom portion and having aninturned edge extending toward said bottom portion, the side wall of theouter cup being a continuous cylindrical wall and of such height as topermit the fingers of the inner cup to extend beneath the inturned edgeon the outer cup when the parts are fully telescoped in such manner asto securely lock the parts together, the said fingers and the side wallof the outer cup forming the sole guiding means when said cups aretelescoped, a flange integral with the flat top' portion of said innercup extending through said flat flexible member and tightly clampingsaid flat flexible member against the flat top of the inner cup toanchor the same to said inner cup, and a second flange extending throughsaid fiat flexible member and integral with the bottom portion of theouter cup and tightly clamping said flexible member against the flatbottom portion of the outer cup, the construction and arrangement ofparts being such that when the cups are telescoped the continuouscylindrical side wall of the inner cup comprises a barrier to preventany object inserted within the inner cup from reaching said springfingers, the flat flexible member forming a loop and coveringtthe endportions of the telescoped parts in such manner that the parts cannot bereached without destroying the attachments of the flexible member to thesaid telescoped parts, and with the edge of the outer cup beingsubstantially in contact with the flat flexible member adjacent theanchorage thereof with said inner cup.

